This invention relates generally to social networking, and in particular to providing and communicating planned activities of a user of a social networking system.
Social networking systems have become prevalent in recent years because they provide a useful environment in which users can connect to and communicate with other users. A variety of different types of social networking systems exist that provide mechanisms allowing users to interact within their social networks. Some social networking systems also include tools that allow users to calendar events to coordinate activities with other users. In addition to providing event scheduling for the users involved, in the social networking system context these calendaring tools also serve a socializing function of informing other users of the activities of their contacts.
However, existing calendaring functions of social networking systems have drawbacks. Calendaring tools as implemented in current social networking systems are generally based on their traditional equivalents. Thus, they include means of specifying all manner of details of events. This level of detail is useful if the event to be calendared is of a large scale, well defined attendees or invitees, and has fixed details that all potential attendees need to know well in advance. However, these tools are inflexible for smaller scale events where plans may be changing on the fly, or where the details are settled on last minute. Particularly, it is common for a calendaring tool to include an RSVP function where the host of the event seeks invitees response as to whether they will be attending the event. In cases where the events are changing on the fly, RSVPs may become inaccurate if plans change. Further, in the social networking context, users may want to be informed that an event is occurring but not have to deal with the social burden of responding to an event invitation.